Flipped
by Astriq
Summary: Thorki, fluff. When Thor and Loki first met as children, Loki knew he wanted to be with Thor forever, but Thor wasn't so sure. Loosely based on the romcom-drama film 'Flipped'. "In those days, I didn't understand anything. I should have judged her according to her actions, not her words." ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
1. in the clouds

_"When someone blushes, doesn't that mean 'yes'?"_

 _― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince_

* * *

 **Thor**

Thor was eight when he first met Loki. A scrawny, pale-faced boy with unkempt hair, two missing front teeth and green eyes too large for his face, in Thor's opinion. Together with his father Laufey, he had moved into the old house across the road from Thor's which was rumoured to be haunted. Thor watched Loki carry a large carton box in his thin arms and obviously struggling with it. He considered whether he should help him.

Odin, Thor's father and owner of the largest real estate company in the small town of Asgard, had specifically instructed Thor not to mingle with their new neighbours as much as possible, especially Laufey, whom he had described as a despicable miserly old peasant. Clearly, the negotiations on the sale of the house didn't go very pleasantly. Thor wouldn't have wanted to become friends with them anyway, even without his father telling him. As if it wasn't shady enough that they were going to live in a haunted house, he heard that Laufey ran a casket shop. The man also had sharp facial features, a sort of bluish pale complexion and seemed to have bloodshot eyes all the time, which kind of made it hard not to connect him those monsters described in the bedtime stories that he used to listen to.

Anyway, back to Loki. He didn't look as scary as his father did, but he seemed so different from Thor and the other boys he knew. Thor didn't think they would ever become friends, but he decided to help Loki anyway, _because that's what heroes do_ , he told himself. Like most boys his age, Thor enjoyed playing sports and reading comic books about superheroes. Mother had always told him to help others as much as he could and to never be a snob like his father, so that was another reason. He refused to become a snob. He wanted to be kind and strong and popular, like a superhero, like his mother Frigga, a doctor well-loved by everyone in town. Thus, with that in mind, he walked up to Loki. For several years after that, he wondered if it had been the greatest mistake of his life.

"Hey, do you need my help?" Thor offered with a bright smile, "Where's your father?" He figured he should ask just in case.

"Oh," Loki's eyes widened as he looked up from the carton box he was staring at. "He went to get the other stuff," was all Loki said, staring straight into Thor's eyes. It made Thor feel uneasy for some reason, so he decided to look down at the box instead. It was full of old books, the kinds of books that Thor would never read if given the choice. See, he was right about Loki being different.

"Well?" Thor prompted, getting impatient.

Loki tilted his head and gazed at Thor with green eyes that were so clear they reminded him of glass marbles. "What are you standing around for?" he asked. "I thought you wanted to help."

His voice was soft, but the cool tone in which he said it annoyed Thor. Thor resisted the urge to stomp off. "You didn't say yes!" he argued instead.

"It's fine if you don't want to help, you know." Loki sighed. The _nerve_ of him to sigh as if _Thor_ was the one being obnoxious. "You don't really look like you can carry it anyway," muttered Loki as he bent forward to pick up the box. _Says the one who looks like a beanpole!_ Thor's cheeks flushed with anger.

"Who said I can't? Hand it over!" Thor snapped and pulled the box roughly from Loki's arms. He didn't expect Loki to release it so easily, which sadly resulted in the misfortune of him losing his balance and falling hard on his bum. The books scattered onto the ground and one bounced off his head.

Thor heard a snort of laughter coming from above him but he didn't register it until after he had accepted the hand offered to help him up. Loki was smiling, his eyes twinkling with what Thor thought had to be amusement. Thor's cheeks burned, this time in embarrassment and fury. He was going to punch Loki in the face. He would have done it, had his mother not intervened in time.

"Thor!" Thor turned around when he heard his name, and standing there at the gate of his house was his mother, smiling warmly.

"Mother…" It came out as a whine. Never mind how unmanly it sounded, Thor had had enough. He was going to tell Frigga how mean Loki had been to him, even though he was only trying to help. He started jogging towards her, arms out, but before he could reach her—

"Mama Frigga!" Loki was already there, hugging _his_ mother and beaming at her. Thor halted in his tracks, jaw dropped open. _What?_

"Loki, darling!" Frigga laughed and ruffled Loki's hair. "My, how much you have grown!" She heaved Loki up into her arms and kissed his cheek. Ever since Thor had turned five he was rarely ever carried by his mother anymore, because she said he was already a big boy and that he had become too heavy. Why did _Loki_ get to be carried, of all people? What was this unfairness?!

Thor stomped his foot angrily. "Mother!"

"Thor, sweetie, you remember Loki, don't you?" Frigga finally— _finally_ turned her attention to him. Huh, was Thor supposed to know Loki? Thor squinted at Loki and shook his head. Frigga looked surprised.

"Thor… Loki lived with us for a year, remember? You were both three at the time but Loki was slightly younger. Loki let you call him 'Brother' and you were so happy because you've always wanted a younger brother, remember that?"

Thor shook his head harder. _No way!_

"You were so sad when he was taken away and you cried so much you came down with a high fever that week. I was really worried… It's been years but I thought you'd love to see Loki again, that was why I convinced your father to sell the house when I saw who the buyer was." Frigga smiled and gazed at Thor expectantly. "I'm glad to see that you two still get along so well!"

 _No_ , Thor didn't want to be friends with this guy, let alone brothers! He felt the urge to pull his hair. Before he could protest, Loki had popped out of Frigga's arms and was in front of him, lips upturned and eyes agleam. For a moment Thor couldn't help getting lost in those eyes. Then he was suddenly being hugged and kissed on the cheek by Loki. "Brother!" called Loki happily. Frigga laughed. Ignoring the instinct to push him away, Thor hugged back. What else could he have done? His mother was watching and he didn't want to disappoint her.

Frigga clapped her hands to get their attention. "Alright, now let's help Loki clear up the books, shall we? My goodness... How did these even get all over the place?"

Thor flushed as he remembered what had happened earlier. Loki raised a brow and grinned at him, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Ah," he said. "It was Th—" Thor quickly covered Loki's mouth with a hand before he could finish saying it. "Shut up!" he hissed and squeezed Loki's face, but Loki only blinked innocently. The little _devil_.

The cardboard box was ripped, so they had to move the books into Loki's house in stacks. Thor swore he had never before stepped onto a front yard so messy. It was sprawled with weeds and tall grass and fungi. And spider webs. Freaking spider webs that also attacked and invaded his perfectly combed golden locks. He knew that there were bats lurking in there as well, because he could sometimes spot them from his bedroom window at night. Talk about creepy.

Once it was finally done Thor hurried back out without waiting for his mother or saying goodbye to Loki. He would surely be chastised for forgetting his manners later, but whatever. He was so eager to get out he almost tripped over something on the way. It was the book which had hit his head earlier— _The Little Prince_. He picked it up and glared at it.

"You can have it if you like," Thor heard Loki say, but he ran off with the book without turning around. "It's my favourite book," Thor didn't hear Loki say. He went home and shoved the book into a corner of his desk drawer.

 **Loki**

Loki was three when he first met Thor. He could only remember the details vaguely though. He was ill and his father brought him to a clinic. Laufey said that the doctor inside was a very kind lady and that she would help him get better. He said that she was in fact the doctor who helped give birth to Loki and that Loki should stay with her for his own good, and then he left him there. Loki was small and malnourished, but Frigga took him in and nursed him back to health. Thor helped him get better too. He shared his toys with Loki and chatted with him, happily called him 'Brother'. They fought and played together all the time, until the day Laufey came and took Loki away. That was when Thor wasn't home. They moved to a town which was cold almost all the time. Loki missed Frigga and Thor at first, but he eventually stopped thinking of them after a while.

Loki was seven when Laufey found them a house in Asgard. He didn't recognise the place at first. Their new house was much bigger and nicer than where they had lived before and it even had a lawn with an apple tree. He tried one of the apples and it was really sweet. It was more than Loki could ever ask for. He didn't think things could get better, but that was until he saw Thor. Thor's hair was as golden as ever, and the blue of his eyes the colour of deep sea. Loki recognised him immediately. Thor didn't seem to recognise him though. He had a big silly smile on his face and was asking Loki if he needed help. Loki thought that maybe if he stared at Thor long enough Thor might remember him, but it didn't work at all. He couldn't help feeling a little sour. How could Thor have not recognised his face?

Loki knew he had a pretty face, because that was what his father always told him since he was little, that he was the prettiest child in the country. He was smart and perfect, he would be able to make friends with anyone he if wanted. But he did not, because he felt that they were all beneath him and often found them too dull for his liking. Thor was the only exception. Later, when they started attending school, there were people who would talk bad about him behind his back, calling him names like 'Teacher's Pet' and 'Silver Tongue'. They said it to his face sometimes too, but he didn't care. He knew they were merely jealous of his beauty and intelligence. He told Thor as such.

Anyway, back to his little reunion with Thor. Loki was sulky about Thor not remembering him, so his words came out a little cold. It didn't seem to bother Thor though, given that he still insisted on helping Loki. He kept blushing around Loki too. When someone blushed, it meant that they liked you, right? Thor still liked Loki even though he didn't remember him, and that made Loki feel much better about it. It was fine because they would get to know each other again. Besides, Mama Frigga still remembered him. Her smiles and hugs felt so familiar and warm, and she said that Thor was really sad when Loki had been taken away. Loki was happy to hear that he wasn't the only one who had cried then. Thor cared about him after all. He even hugged back when Loki had hugged him.

When Loki saw Thor holding his favourite book and staring intently at it, he decided to let him have it as a gift. He watched Thor run off hurriedly with the book and guessed he was just being shy. He hoped that Thor would take good care of it.

 **Thor**

Thor made friends in school easily enough. He was good-looking, vocal, athletic, friendly, charismatic and helpful, so that was no surprise. He was popular with both the boys and girls in school, and he quickly formed a clique with his new friends—Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg and Sif. Everything was going well, except for one problem—Loki.

Loki, who had been following him around ever since the first day they started attending school. He was quiet and soft-spoken, except when it was time to answer questions in class. He always had smart answers and was often praised by the teachers. Loki was no doubt a good student. The problem was that the other students didn't like him very much, and those had included his friends as well. They saw him as a weirdo because of his cold attitude, and called him names like 'Teacher's Pet' and 'Silver Tongue' because he had his ways of getting in the teachers' good books. Some even passed around the rumour that he was a vampire child because of his dark hair and pale complexion, and the fact that he was living in a rumoured-to-be-haunted house. Despite everything, Loki kept to himself most of the time and didn't seem to mind what they were saying at all...

Right, like _hell_ he didn't mind. Loki kept to himself _most_ of the time, but in the times that he didn't, he was almost always chattering to Thor, on the way to school and on the way home. He would tell Thor about how stupid and pathetic those students were, how they must be so jealous of him that they felt the need to slander him. He seemed to think himself too smart and attractive for them (Thor sometimes looked at Loki's messy overgrown hair and the ragged, oversized clothes on his thin frame and wondered if he should tell him). Loki would tell Thor about how he had snitched on Clint who had badmouthed him, telling the teacher about him copying someone else's homework, as well as how he had snuck earthworms into Natasha's pencil case and made her scream, also how he had stuck chewed gum inside Tony's helmet so that it stuck to his front hair and he had to cut it off… And the list went on. Since they walked together on the same route everyday Thor had no choice but to listen, sometimes in horror, sometimes in disgust, sometimes in awe. Loki was definitely a master at making mischief. Thor started to believe Sif when she told him that the apples Loki gave him might be poisoned and decidedly threw them away in secret every time.

There was one time during class when a classmate found frogs in his schoolbag and immediately accused Loki of it. The teacher in class then was also the fearsome discipline master, Mr Fury. Thor held his breath when Mr Fury made Loki stand up and started to question him. But Loki only shook his head mutely and looked at him with wide innocent eyes. Then his eyes started welling up with tears and he looked like he was biting his lip to stop himself from crying. Thor's heart wrenched without his permission. Mr Fury looked like he was at a loss and Steve the class rep told the boy who accused Loki to apologise immediately. Everyone was suddenly looking at Thor expectantly for some reason. Thor slowly stood up and placed his arm around Loki's shoulders awkwardly. "Loki…" he whispered. Loki let himself be turned around and buried his face in the crook of Thor's neck. "Brother, shh… It's okay, don't cry…" Thor continued to console him, stroking his back. Then Loki raised his head a little and winked playfully. Right, what did Thor mention before? _Devil_.

See, that was the problem. Everyone had already associated Thor with Loki. It was like they existed as a set now—Thor and Loki, Thor/Loki, Thor-Ki—whether Thor wanted it or not. His friends would remark on how kind he was to be willing to tolerate someone like Loki all the time, and he always laughed it off good-naturedly. During those times Loki would always quietly excuse himself from the group. Thor would be torn between wanting to stay with the group and going after Loki, because he had promised Frigga that he'd look after Loki like a brother. He could only hope that things would get better when they were older.

 **Loki**

He and Thor had become the best of brothers again. They were always together, they would walk to school and back home together every day, on the way they would chat about everything and Thor would laugh. It was Loki's favourite part about attending school. Other than that it was actually boring most of the time. He had to listen to the teachers explain the same concepts again and again even though he had already understood them the first time, because some of the students were too dumb to get it. Those were usually the ones who liked to call him names and incidentally, the regular victims of his pranks. There were also some smart ones though, particularly the midget named Tony, who was pranked on partly because he talked too much too loud and disrupted Loki's reading, but mainly because his presence irritated Loki in general.

Thor had his own group of close friends that he regularly hung out with in school, but other than Fandral Loki didn't like them at all. They were just like the other students who were jealous of him, and sometimes Thor would ignore him when he was with them. There was one time they were talking about having a slumber party and Thor had asked Loki if he wanted to join them, but Thor's friends simply assumed that he wasn't going to be interested and answered for him as such, even though he hadn't even said anything yet. Because of that Thor actually thought that Loki wasn't interested and he didn't get to join them in the end.

It was fine though, because Loki didn't care about them at all. Loki was the one that Thor liked the most anyway. After school he would often go to Thor's house and they would spend time together. They did their homework together, though it was mostly Loki helping Thor with his. After that they would play games, read books together or play with Thor's pet cat Mjolnir. Loki would bring apples from his tree for Thor and Thor would always save them for dinnertime to share with his parents. During her days off Frigga would be at home too and she would read stories and bake desserts for them. He never stayed for dinner, even though Frigga always asked him to. It was partly because he knew Odin didn't like him very much, but also because he didn't want his father to be alone for dinner.

Contrary to certain foolish beliefs, they didn't actually feed on human blood. Laufey cooked for them when he came home in the evening and while his cooking wasn't nearly as good as Frigga's, it wasn't bad at all. All in all, Loki's new life was pretty bearable.

 **Thor**

Thor didn't know if he could say that things had gotten better in middle school. At least the insults had died down, Loki didn't follow him around all the time anymore and had started talking to people other than Thor. By some twist of fate he was still assigned to the same class as Loki, but Sif, Fandral, Volstagg and Hogun were in a different class. They met one another less frequently and he started to hang out more regularly with a group of friends from the drama club instead.

That's right, Thor had joined the drama club, together with Loki. Thor had to say that when it came to stage acting, Loki was definitely in his natural element. He was expressive, dramatic, graceful; qualities which Thor had none of. The question was why _Thor_ would decide to join the drama club too. Well, he was pleased to admit that he only joined the club because he wanted to be part of the _Avengers_ , the famous play about superheroes that was traditional and unique to the one and only Midgard Middle School. That was where he made friends with Tony, Steve, Natasha, Bruce and Clint, who were his classmates from elementary school too. They did not like Loki very much, which was not a surprise, and Loki did not like them either. Even though they did not have concrete evidence, by this time they had all derived that Loki was the culprit behind those pranks all along. Clint in particular held a grudge about Loki snitching on him and causing him to get zero marks for his assignments.

As for why they were convinced that it was Loki, there was actually a good reason for it and no, it wasn't Thor who told them. The thing was, ever since they had moved on to middle school, Loki had become more vocal in his opinions of others and was not in the least reserved about criticising them right in their face. He started giving insulting nicknames to people too, for instance 'Tony Shortstack' and 'Clint Birdbrain'. Thor often had to step in and stop them from fighting. Fortunately, they soon got split into different groups during club activities—Thor in the 'Heroes' group with his friends and Loki in the 'Villains' group with the students who would play the members of his army in the story. On several occasions Thor thought he had felt Loki staring at him from the opposite side of the club room, but it must have been his imagination, because whenever he checked Loki would be paying attention to instructions or chatting with his own group. Gradually, Thor hung out less and less with Loki. Later, Thor was invited by Jane—a smart, beautiful girl and one of the top students of their level—to join her study group, so he eventually stopped studying with Loki at his house after school. The only times they were together anymore were during official class hours and their journey to school, sometimes from school.

One time when they were walking home after club activities, Loki told Thor that some of the students from his group in the drama club were trying to hit on him, and that when he was changing they were all staring and looked as if they wanted a piece of him. Thor rolled his eyes and told him that he was imagining things. Honestly, Loki thought too highly of himself and his own looks. Thor realised he had less and less patience for Loki's nonsense.

He didn't really mean for it to happen. It was in the club room before the teachers came in, and Loki was making sarcastic remarks at his friends again. He was always making everyone unhappy. He called Tony 'Hobbit', Clint 'Ugly Cuckoo', Bruce 'Wimpy Nerd', and Steve 'Captain Holier-than-thou' when Steve started to chastise him for being rude. Loki always thought he was smarter, prettier, better than everyone else. He was so blind to everything around him. Thor couldn't take it any longer.

"Enough!" he roared, and everyone in the room quieted. He met Loki's wide eyes as he stomped towards Loki and roughly pulled him out of the room by the arm.

"What?" snapped Loki as he shook his arm out of Thor's grasp.

"Shut up."

"Thor…" Loki looked shocked. There was something in his eyes Thor couldn't tell. Was it hurt? Anger? Thor couldn't be bothered anymore, it was time to set things straight.

" _You_ don't have the right to insult everyone like that. You think you're smarter, you think you're prettier than everyone else? Nobody likes you, can't you see that? Just look at you, your hair is a mess and your clothes! They're so tattered you look like a homeless person! You're not pretty at all, you're as thin as a skeleton, and you have weird eyes... Your heart is uglier than your face, and poisonous words spew out of your mouth all the time, sometimes I think it's because you eat too many of those poisonous apples!" Thor spat the words out without meeting Loki's eyes. When he finally glanced, he saw that there were tears brimming in them. Thor's heart twisted, but he continued relentlessly. "I'm not going to fall for that, I know you. You're a liar, a trickster—"

"There's nothing wrong with my apples!" Loki shouted, and shrunk into himself immediately after. "You ate them too…" he added softly.

"No, I didn't." Thor stated coldly. He wanted Loki to get the point already.

Loki's eyes widened. Then his gaze became hard. "You threw them away."

Thor took a deep breath. He might as well lay everything out while he was at it. "Yes I did. Have you seen your own front yard? It's disgusting. It's full of weeds and spiders and poisonous mushrooms. Who's to say that your apples aren't infected? You should get your lawn cleaned up, by the way. Mother tripped on a vine and fell when she went to deliver some cakes to your house the other day. Father was so angry about it—" Loki's soft whimper stopped Thor from going on. Tears were streaming down his face uncontrollably and it looked like he was trying to calm his breathing enough to talk. Thor waited, forcing down his uneasiness.

"Do you," Loki eventually forced out, voice small and hoarse, "Do you really think so little of me?" At that instant Thor suddenly wanted more than anything to swallow all the words that he had just said. He was hit with the urge to brush the tears from Loki's eyes, to hug Loki tightly and console him like he used to. But he only stood rooted, helpless.

Loki gave a sardonic smile that only lasted a second. "Just one more question," he sniffled and carelessly wiped off the tears with the back of his hand, "You said that nobody liked me—" Thor's heart ached. "What about you?" Loki whispered, "Do _you_ like me?"

It should have been an easy question, but Thor found that he didn't have an answer. He had to admit that he didn't like Loki at first, he didn't want to have anything to do with Loki, but— Thor's eyes widened. He didn't realise that he had just said his thoughts out loud. He felt like slapping himself in the face. He risked a glance at Loki. Loki's eyes were bright with tears, his lips pursed. He lowered his gaze and nodded, then he turned away from Thor and ran. Thor's mind went blank.

He was startled by a rustling sound and dazedly turned to look at the source. Five heads popped up in the window of the club room. It was his friends. They all stared at him awkwardly. Tony was the one who broke the silence. His cough turned into an 'ow!' because Natasha elbowed him the moment he made the noise. "Don't say anything stupid," she hissed at him. Tony rolled his eyes. "I was only gonna say—" "Thor, you look like a kicked puppy." "Yes, that too, thank you Clint. _Actually_ , what I really wanted to say was—" "Thor, are you okay?" Steve's voice was gentle, clearly concerned. "Why do you people keep interrupting me? You know what, never mind, that's not the main point. _Listen_ —" "I think we should be more worried about Loki," Bruce provided timidly, raising a hand. " _Exactly_ what I was about to say! Earth to Thor! What the fuck are you standing around for? Go chase after your boy!"

Thor shook his head and walked back into the club room. What else could he say to Loki? He already said too much.

 **Loki**

Loki's chest hurt. It had never felt so painful before. He thought Thor was different, but he was just the same as everyone else after all. He didn't like Loki at all. He thought Loki was ugly and irksome. Loki thought himself so smart, yet he couldn't even see that—how ironic was that? Thor probably only let Loki into his house because he needed help with his homework. Once he had found someone better— _Jane_ , Loki thought bitterly—he instantly kicked Loki aside without any hesitation. Thor's friends were right; Thor was only tolerating Loki out of pity. Loki kept running in the direction of his home. Distracted by his thoughts, he accidentally bumped into someone when he rounded a corner. He looked up and it was Odin—Thor's father. The thought of Thor made Loki feel like crying again. He told himself to keep it together.

"Boy, are you alright?" asked Odin.

Loki nodded meekly and he had an abrupt idea. "Sir, how do I look?" he asked seriously. He knew Odin didn't like him, so he most likely wouldn't lie about what he truly thought.

"What?" Odin was looking at him as if he were crazy.

"Tell me, please." Loki pleaded. Odin looked him up and down warily.

"Well, if I had to say…" He squinted at Loki, "I'd say maybe like a dirty runt."

Loki smiled wryly. He bowed to excuse himself and walked the rest of the way back home. Laufey was a big fat liar. He lied that Loki was beautiful and he lied that their lawn was nature's special and wonderful gift to them. Loki decided to confront Laufey about it when he came home from work.

"Who said that?" Laufey looked furious, "My baby boy is the prettiest little thing in the universe, don't ever listen to that nonsense."

"I already know that you're lying! Thor said—"

"Thor! Ah, that little princess thinks he's better than everyone else! Like father, like son, I see! Hmph, I should have known…" Laufey hissed, gritting his teeth. "I was foolish to think that you would be happier here. We shouldn't have moved here at all, that boy is a very bad influence—"

"So can we renovate our front yard or not?" Loki asked again, impatient. Laufey sighed and looked at him apologetically.

"Son, we do not have the money to spare…"

Loki stomped back to his room and slammed the door shut. He felt bad after thinking about it over the night though, so the next morning he woke up earlier to make breakfast and left an apology note. The other, more important reason he had woken up earlier was to avoid seeing Thor and walking with him. This would be the first time he walked to school alone. The thought of having to see Thor in school later upset him, and for once he loathed that they had to sit beside each other in class at the back of the classroom due to their almost matching heights. The more Loki thought about what Thor had said the day before the more indignant he got. He decided to skip school for the day and turned to walk in a different direction instead. He didn't really need the classes anyway; they were too easy for him.

He bumped into someone when he rounded a corner— _again_. He was caught by the arm before he could fall on his ass. This was getting annoying. He glared at the giant imbecile in front of him.

"Are you okay?" The idiot had the nerve to ask.

"Let go of me, you foolish fool from the land of fools of a foolery of a foolishly foolish— Oh, it's you."

It was the guy who was supposed to play the evil titan-warlord in the _Avengers_ play. Loki recognised him even though he had only ever joined them for club activity once, thanks to his very distinct appearance. Looking at his face, Loki suddenly felt infinitely better about his own looks. Oh yeah, what was this guy's name again? Right, _Thanos_.

* * *

 _TBC_


	2. in the air

**"** _True love is an acceptance of someone else for who they are."  
—Tom Hiddleston_

* * *

 **Thor**

Loki did not turn up for class today. The empty seat beside Thor was a glaring reminder of what had happened the day before. There was a dull ache in his chest every time the image of Loki flashed through his mind, eyes tear-rimmed and shoulders trembling. Thor guessed it must be the guilt gnawing at him. He couldn't stop thinking about it, he tossed and turned in his bed all night until the exhaustion eventually took over. In the end he only managed to get two hours of sleep in the morning, the result of that being the pair of dark circles under his eyes.

"Dude… You look terrible." It was Clint with the rest of the guys behind him, approaching Thor guardedly. No one had talked to him during class that day, most likely having sensed his bad mood. By the looks of it Clint was probably the loser in their game to decide who should be the one to talk to Thor. Thor saw them whispering among themselves and playing rock-paper-scissors in a corner when he arrived in the club room. He sighed. Clint turned to look at the rest of the group pleadingly, but they ignored his silent plea for help and gestured at him to go on. He raised a shaking fist at them before turning back to Thor. "So…" Clint continued with a gawky smile. "It sure is quiet without Loki around, huh?"

Tony face-palmed. He made a shooing gesture at Clint and took over his place in front of Thor. He coughed into his fist. "Okay, listen here, Thunder-boy—I'm calling you that because I can practically see a storm brewing over your head right now," Tony said while drawing tiny clouds with a finger pointing at the space above Thor, "or since this morning, to be precise—anyway, the point is that you need to stop moping and get your shit together. Now tell me, have you tried talking to your boy yet?"

Thor shook his head. "I don't know. What should I even say to him?"

"Oh, _I don't know_ ," Tony mimicked his words sarcastically. " _What_ a tough question indeed." He turned to the other guys. "Suggestions, team? Yes, my dear Bruce?"

"Um, maybe you could start by saying sorry…" said Bruce, raising a hand and looking at Thor rather than Tony.

"Wow, thank you! That's actually a _genius_ idea!" Tony exclaimed dramatically before turning back to address Thor with a stoic face, "Seriously, Thor? Don't tell me you never thought of that."

"Of course I did!" Thor shot up from his seat in agitation and the chair screeched against the floor. Tony raised both hands placatingly and Steve and Natasha stepped forward. Thor caught himself before he could lose his temper. He took a deep breath and lowered his gaze. "I just don't know if I can face him… What does it matter to you, anyway? You guys don't even like Loki." Suddenly there was only the noise coming from the other side of the room. Thor looked up and saw that his friends were all looking around at one another questioningly.

"Thor… Who said we didn't like Loki?" asked Steve, frowning.

Thor blinked. "Aren't you all mad that he kept insulting you and calling you names?" His heart was suddenly pounding really hard. "You were always arguing with him, especially you—" Thor pointed at Clint. "And you." He pointed at Tony.

"Are you kidding me? His nicknames are brilliant! I mean, 'Birdbrain'! Look at this specimen and tell me it isn't the perfect—Ow!" As he said it Tony had put his hands on either side of Clint's face from behind to turn it towards Thor, but was stepped on his foot by Clint. "Shut up, Tony _Shortstack_."

"Thor, Tony is an asshole round the clock and calls us idiotic names all the time. Nobody minds." stated Natasha matter-of-factly.

Thor's heart dropped. He felt like crying all of a sudden. He didn't understand it. Natasha was right. Tony was annoying to everyone and full of himself all the time too, so why was it that Thor only ever found fault with Loki?

"Thor, you okay?" Bruce tested, touching his arm lightly.

"I—"

They were abruptly interrupted by a group of students entering the room chattering and laughing at the top of their voices. Thor glanced from the corner of his eye and it was some of the members from the 'Villains' group. He only recognised the guy named Malekith and that new guy Jeff Gold-something.

"But have you looked at that waistline? I swear, he has it finer than a chick," one of them was saying. Thor's breath caught it his throat.

"You should see his legs, man, they're so long and shapely—"

"What was his name again? Loki, was it?" asked Gold-something. Thor clenched his fist. He was shaking.

"I'd sure love to get a piece of that _ass_ —"

Before Thor knew what he was doing he had shaken off the hands that were trying to stop him and stomped across the room. He grabbed the _scum_ by the collar and punched him hard in the face, sending him to the floor. The rest of the group backed away. Thor regarded all of them coldly. "Don't you _dare_ talk about him like that, _ever_." His voice rumbled, low and threatening.

"Oh?" The one on the floor sneered, cradling his bleeding nose with a hand. "And who are you to him?"

"He's my—"

"He's not _yours_."

Thor growled and raised his fist, but it was caught by Steve this time. He tried to struggle free but Steve tightened his grip and shook his head sternly.

"I don't know what you said to him," the _son of a bitch_ continued to say, "but from what I've heard, you broke his heart, didn't you?" Thor froze at that, eyes widened. A satisfied smirk spread on the bastard's face. "Tell me then, what right do you have, to order us what or what not to say about him?"

Thor's fist slowly lowered. He couldn't argue with that, could he? He had said much nastier things to Loki, hadn't he? Loki had told him about these guys, but Thor didn't believe him. He called Loki a liar. That's right, what right did _Thor_ have?

"Thor, let's go." Steve and Bruce each pulled on one of his arms and this time he didn't resist. Before they walked away Natasha kicked the guy in the crotch and Clint stepped on his hand. Tony gave him the middle finger.

Thor skipped club activity with the excuse of not feeling well and left without his friends. He quickened his steps and eventually ran all the way home. He couldn't stand the empty space next to him. He hated it. When he opened the door to his house, Frigga was sitting on the sofa with a frown on her face. "Mother, I'm home," he informed carefully. She only looked at him wordlessly and patted the space next to her. "What's wrong?" asked Thor as he put down his bag and strode to join her on the sofa. "What did you say to Loki?" she asked without any preamble. Thor's heart dropped. Did Loki snitch on him?

"No, he didn't." Frigga snapped, her tone hard. Thor shrunk into himself. _Stupid_ , he had voiced his thoughts out loud again, without meaning to. "Thor, look at me." Frigga ordered, and Thor obeyed timidly. Thor knew that look. It was the same look when she had found out that he had been rude to his teacher at school that one time—disappointment. "Thor, what did I tell you about being like your father? Answer me."

"You told me to never be a snob like him…"

"And what _were_ the things you said to Loki?" She raised a hand to stop him when he tried to speak. "I found out from his father, if you really wanted to know. Thor, have you thought about why Loki wears clothes that are old and worn? Have you thought about why they've chosen not to fix their lawn? You and your father only know to look down on people just because they're not so well-off, but do you know how hard it is for a single parent to bring up a child on his own? Loki's mother passed away when he was born," she swallowed before continuing, "I helped her give birth. It was a difficult labour, but Loki was born healthy. I swore to help them in any way I could, but Laufey didn't ask me for anything, until the time Loki became too sick and wouldn't eat anything, and he didn't have anyone else to turn to. Loki grew up healthy and happy, and that's the most important thing for them. What right do you have to criticise their lawn? Do _you_ even care for your own lawn yourself? Heimdall is the one who's been doing all the work! You are a vain, cruel boy! How could you have said those awful things to Loki? Is that how you were taught? Thor, is that what _I_ have taught you?"

Thor shook his head profusely, biting his lip. There was a gnawing pain in his stomach. He didn't realise he was crying until drops of tears started falling on the carpet in front of him. He always told himself that he wouldn't be a snob like his father, but he guessed some things he had inherited without even being conscious of it. He hoped it wasn't too late to fix everything. He needed to apologise to Loki—badly.

"Thor," Frigga had switched back to her gentle voice. She stroked his hair tenderly. "If you've understood what you had done wrong, then I'm sure you know what you should be doing, right?"

Thor rubbed his tears away and nodded determinedly. "Yes," he said.

 **Loki**

Loki regarded the person before him dubiously. "Why would you want to help me? I remember calling you 'Big Bald Wrinkled Potato' before. Aren't you angry at all?"

Thanos scratched his head. "Why would I? You only spoke the truth. That's why I'm trying to make money by helping people fix their lawns, ya know? I'm planning to go for facelift and hair transplant." Loki bit his lip to hold back a laughter and nodded his head seriously instead, blinking his eyes innocuously. "I won't take your money, though," Thanos continued, "I'll take it as an advertisement for our good work, since your lawn is like, one of a kind. Actually, do you wanna join us? We call ourselves the 'Infinity Odd Jobs', because we're like, good with all kinds of odd jobs and stuff."

Loki considered his offer. Since the guy would be doing it for free, why not? Then again it wouldn't really be wise to owe him a favour, since he was a stranger after all. What if he had ulterior motives and planned to use this as an excuse to make Loki pay in other ways? As Loki thought about it he picked at his hair—he noted it was rather frizzy—and looked down at his clothes. He had another idea. "Hey Potato, how about this? I'd feel very bad about making you do it for free, so why not I work on my lawn with you and you charge me at a lower rate instead? Though I'm sad to say I can't be a permanent member of your team, I'll help you out with a few of your other jobs too— um, if they're within my means, of course. The cost of fixing my lawn you can deduct from my final pay, and you just give me what's left of it. It's a better deal for you, right?" Loki gave Thanos his most earnest smile. Thanos nodded in agreement. "You are very kind!" he said. Loki smiled bitterly. That was certainly not what Thor would have said. He shook the thought from his mind. Who cared about that stupid oaf?

They walked back to Loki's house together, so that Thanos could assess how they should start fixing his lawn and what tools they would need. They bumped into Thor at the gate. Loki's eyes widened, then narrowed. "What do you want?" he asked coldly, crossing his arms. Thor looked between him and Thanos, expression unreadable. "Can you come with me?" he said, looking only at Loki, "I need to tell you something."

"No. I'm very busy, as you can see," Loki said tersely, turning away from Thor.

"Loki, I'm sorry—"

"No, you don't have to apologise." Loki suddenly remembered what Thanos had said earlier. "You only spoke the truth. Whereas I'm a liar—"

"No!" Thor exclaimed, suddenly grabbing his shoulders. "You weren't lying. You were right about so many things. I was the one who didn't see it and chose not to believe you." His eyes were bright and gazing straight into Loki's, mere inches away. Loki stood stunned. What was this about? These two days Loki found out he had been interpreting so many things wrongly, he didn't dare assume anything anymore. Thor's breath hovered over his lips, warm and tingling, and Loki had to wonder if Thor had any sense of personal space at all. He was considering whether he should move back a little when Thor flitted his gaze down, eyes becoming half-lidded. Loki followed the movement of his lashes distractedly, inexplicably drawn to them. Then Thor's eyes fluttered shut, and he closed the remaining gap between them. Loki froze, eyes widened. It lasted for around five seconds, then Thor suddenly let him go and dashed off to his own house. Loki touched his lips and frowned in confusion. What the heck was that?

"Your boyfriend?" Thanos' voice broke him from his stupor. Loki shook his head absently. "Let's go in," he said.

For the whole of next week Loki skipped club activities to work on his lawn with Thanos after school. He didn't talk to Thor in class, even though they sat next to each other. He thought he felt Thor staring at him, but it could have been his imagination. Even if it wasn't he wouldn't know what it meant anyway. He hung out with Thanos during his lunchbreak, so they had time to discuss their ongoing project. He helped Thanos out with his other jobs as well, such as delivering newspapers, painting walls and collecting stones (for whatever reason). Loki secretly kept a bluish, sort of cube-shaped one for himself because he thought it looked pretty. He got part of his pay from Thanos in the same week and used it for a haircut and a bottle of hair gel. He started to keep his hair at neck length and slicked back with gel, which earned him some compliments from his classmates. Thanos said he was envious and that he couldn't wait to get his hair transplant, but Loki told him that bald suited him just fine. He thought Thanos might actually be the first real friend he had made.

 **Thor**

Thor sat himself down on the wooden swing in his front yard and sighed miserably. His apology had gone all awry. He even kissed (!) Loki out of nowhere and ran off without any explanation. He touched his lips at the memory. Loki's lips were so soft, his crystalline green eyes as clear as the day Thor first met him, his lashes so long and curved they cast shadows across his perfectly sculpted cheekbones… Recently Loki had cut his hair short and started wearing it combed back with hair gel, and it looked so good on him. He had such a full and nice forehead, how did Thor never notice… Thor had to literally shake himself out of his train of thoughts. Ever since that day he had found himself always staring at Loki, sometimes even without being aware of it himself. He wanted to talk to Loki, but he was afraid that Loki wouldn't want to have anything to do with him after what had happened that day. His friends kept prodding at him to tell them about it and he shrugged them off each time. He felt so stifled when he was in school he didn't feel like going anymore.

The other reason Thor felt so glum, he guessed, was because of that bald guy who looked like a giant potato. What was his name again? Right, _Thanos._ He was always together with Loki now, in school and even after school hours. They had started working on Loki's lawn together—Thor knew because he could see them from his window. Not that he was _spying_ , he just happened to see them, he told himself. Thor heard that Loki joined Thanos in taking up other odd jobs too. How did Loki know he could trust that guy? Thor thought irritably. What if he was just making use of Loki? Thor gritted his teeth at the thought. At least that guy was in a different class from them—that made Thor feel slightly better for some reason.

"Something's been troubling you, Young Master." It was Heimdall, their gardener. He was like an uncle to Thor and Thor sometimes came to him for advice.

"I told you not to call me that anymore, Heimdall…"

"I will, if you tell me what's been troubling you." Heimdall raised his eyebrows as he said, joining Thor on the bench. Thor hesitated but told him eventually, leaving out the kissing part.

"Basically, you have said some terrible things to your friend that made him cry, but now you're regretting it and your heart is hurting because of it." Thor nodded.

"And you feel foolish because you don't know why you had to tell him off, why you had to keep finding fault with him, and only him, even though your other friend always did those exact same things too." Thor nodded again.

"You apologised to him, but you don't know whether he has forgiven you, so you haven't dared to talk to him yet." Thor nodded guiltily.

"And now he has a new friend, and he keeps hanging out with that new friend instead of you." Thor nodded grudgingly and pouted.

"You're jealous." Heimdall stated, raising an eyebrow at him.

"No I'm not!" Thor retorted, and Heimdall merely smiled and shook his head.

"Thor, have you considered that the reason you keep finding fault with someone, might be because you really care about them?"

"Why would I do that?" Thor frowned in confusion.

"Exactly. Why would you? It doesn't sound like you to keep finding fault with others, does it? Why is it only with him that you do that? I wonder…"

"Heimdall, please stop speaking in riddles!" Thor was getting impatient.

Heimdall chuckled. "You find fault with someone you care about, because you feel that they could be more, and you want them to be more. That's why you notice the imperfections in them, and you point them out. You wouldn't bother if you didn't care. There is nothing wrong with that, Thor. In fact, if you think about it, it's like that with your father and mother, too. But child, before all of that, there is one thing that you need to learn first," Heimdall placed an arm around Thor's shoulder and looked at Thor, eyes gentle. Thor held his breath. He felt like it was going to be something important.

"When you love someone, you should love them for who they are."

Thor's eyes widened. Heimdall patted him on the back and stood up to leave, leaving him alone with that. Thor clutched his chest. _Love…?_

The next day, Thor dragged Sif along with him to the school library after class. It had been a long time since they had last seen each other. Sif looked at him oddly as he stood flipping through the books at the romance novel section.

"You dragged me here just for this?" asked Sif, crossing her arms.

"I can't be seen here alone. I have an image to maintain, you know." Thor said simply, and Sif rolled her eyes.

"Congratulations, by the way," she said out of the blue.

"What?" Thor asked in confusion.

"I heard you finally got rid of Loki. It's been hard on you, having to tolerate him for such a long time," Sif said, giving him a pat him on the shoulder.

Thor's first reaction was to pretend to laugh it off like he used to, since Sif didn't know what had happened between him and Loki and she likely didn't mean any harm by it. He couldn't possibly get angry at an old friend who didn't know better. But the more he laughed the more it didn't sit well with him. This wasn't funny at all. He should be saying something to defend Loki; in fact he should have done that from the beginning, instead of letting people say whatever they wanted about Loki. His train of thoughts was interrupted by a loud thump behind him. He turned around and standing there was the boy he had been thinking of, with books scattered at his feet. "Loki…" He moved towards Loki but Loki backed away. Thor's heart ached. Then Loki turned and ran. Thor wasn't going to let him run away this time. He moved to follow but Sif caught his arm. "Where are you going?" she asked. He shook her hand off. "Don't _ever_ talk bad about Loki again." he snapped, before leaving to chase after Loki.

 **Loki**

Loki was a fool. He couldn't believe he actually thought that Thor was sorry. He was even thinking about how he should invite Thor over for dinner. He met Frigga the other day and she told him that Thor truly regretted what he had said to Loki and had even cried about it. She said that Thor missed Loki very much but didn't dare talk to him because he was afraid that Loki was still angry. She said she had talked to Laufey about having dinner together at Loki's house and she had asked Loki what dishes he'd like. She looked at Loki hopefully as she asked him whether he wanted to invite Thor himself, and Loki only agreed because he didn't want to disappoint her. But he couldn't forgive Thor now, not anymore, not even for her.

He was caught by the arm and he turned around fiercely, shaking off the hand that had grabbed him. "Don't touch me!" he shouted.

"Loki listen to me—"

"I've heard enough! You think you're happy to be rid of me? Well, I'm happier to be rid of _you_!" Loki spat viciously. He had heard enough lies already.

Thor's face fell. "I know you don't mean that."

Loki snorted. "You think you know everything."

"Listen, I'm _sorry_ —"

"Sorry for what? For lying about being sorry before?"

"Why must you twist my words—"

"I _hate_ you."

"Don't say that, we were…we're brothers—"

"I am _not_ your brother!" Loki snarled, "I never was."

"Loki, what must I do for you to forgive me? I'd do anything. Just tell me, please."

"Get lost." Loki answered coldly, "I don't want to see you ever again."

Thor stood and stared at him dumbly for a while before turning to leave, head bowed. Loki thought for a moment that he saw tears in Thor's eyes, but he told himself that it couldn't be possible.

Thor didn't turn up for class the next day. The teacher said he was sick. Loki couldn't help worrying about him. He mentally berated himself for that. It was after school but Thanos had something else on, so they wouldn't be working on the lawn that day. He tossed and turned in bed, trying to find a position to read his book comfortably. He couldn't concentrate at all. He sat up in bed and messed his hair up in frustration. Maybe he could just take a look without letting Thor know. He told himself it was only because he was curious if Thor was really sick, since he was usually as strong as a bull and rarely ever got ill. He grabbed a small bag, threw in a few apples that he had plucked from his tree and headed for Thor's house.

"Oh, Loki!" Frigga was the one who answered the door. She looked surprised to see him.

"Mama Frigga." He greeted, bowing his head.

"Have you come to see Thor?" Frigga asked as she led him into the house.

"How is he?"

"He was running a high fever this morning, but he's better now. He's asleep now because he just took some medicine, but you can still go inside and take a look at him if you want." Frigga said, smiling and ruffling his hair.

"Thank you." Loki said. He was turning the door knob when Frigga stopped him with a gentle hand. "Loki," she said, looking at him sadly, "Thor cried yesterday. I asked him what happened but he wouldn't tell me. I've never seen him cry so hard before. The last time was when he was four years old, when he found out that you were gone." With that, she let go of his hand and turned to leave.

Loki took a deep breath and stepped into the room. Sure enough, Thor was fast asleep. Loki pulled a chair and sat at his bedside. It had been while since he had taken a good look at Thor. There were dark circles under his eyes that weren't there before, his lashes were clumped together by dried tears, his cheeks were tear-stained and flushed from the fever. Even while like this Thor looked so handsome, like an actual prince. Loki brushed a strand of hair from Thor's eyes, and noticed the book beside Thor's head— _The Little Prince._ It was the book he had given Thor when they first reunited. Loki carefully reached over and plucked it from its place. He flipped it to the bookmarked page. There was a portion that was underlined—

" _In those days, I didn't understand anything. I should have judged her according to her actions, not her words. She perfumed my planet and lit up my life. I should never have run away! I ought to have realized the tenderness underlying her silly pretensions. Flowers are so contradictory! But I was too young to know how to love her._ _"_

 **Thor**

" _You know, there's a theory that Cinderella dropped her glass slipper on purpose so that the prince would go looking for her."_

" _And who made up that theory? You?"_

" _Not me, but it's interesting to look at it that way, right?"_

" _Absurd, more like. Of all things why would she choose to leave a shoe behind? What if the prince didn't get the hint? Or what if it had fit someone else and he married that person instead? If she really wanted the prince to find her she should have left him a piece of paper with her address or phone number! "_

" _That's not the point! Thor, you're so unromantic! If she left her address instead she would have made it too easy for the prince. She left the shoe as a reminder of their dance together, so that the prince would remember her. If he really loved her he'd never forget her, and he'd look everywhere until he found her. That was how she would know that it was true love. It wouldn't be a real happy ending otherwise, right?"_

" _I still think it's a lousy plan. What if he ended up having to search for her his whole life, and by the time he found her they were both old and—"_

" _I think it'd be worth it anyway."_

" _Honestly, why do you like twisting the fairy tales so much? Last time you told me that Little Red Riding Hood was actually the Big Bad Wolf all along and she wore the magical red cloak to seal her true form, now this! What kind of horror story was that anyway?! Cindy's a simple girl, okay, don't think that everyone's crafty and sneaky just because you are. She got her happy ending because she was a good person and she deserved it, simple as that!"_

" _It doesn't work that way, though… In real life if you wanted something badly enough you'd have to find a way to get it yourself, doesn't matter whether you're Cinderella or Prince Charming. So what if you have to cheat to get what you want? You don't have a fairy godmother that can make magic glass slippers..."_

The voices faded away as Thor's eyes flickered open. Thor had just had a dream of him and Loki when they were both younger. It was a memory from when they used to meet at his house to read stories together. Loki always had interesting interpretations and theories about the stories. Thor's heart sank. They would never read stories together again. Loki had already made it clear that he didn't want to see Thor ever again. Thor felt like crying. He had been crying ever since yesterday. How long had he slept anyway? He shifted to look at the clock, and spotted a book on the chair beside him. There was an apple on top of it. Thor's eyes widened. He didn't place the book there the night before.

When Thor saw Loki in the library with the books scattered on the floor the day before, his mind immediately flashed back to the time they first met—or reunited; he felt a little frustrated with himself for not being able to remember. When he reached home the first thing he did was to dig out the book from the corner of his desk drawer. There was a page that was bookmarked and he flipped to it curiously. He couldn't find anything that could describe his feelings accurately in any of the romance novels at the library, but there it was—in the book that Loki had gifted him. It hit close to his heart and he burst into tears. It was there all along, yet he had shut it away.

Thor's mind reeled. He stared at the apple and thought of the dream he had just woken up from— _"She left the shoe as a reminder of their dance together, so that the prince would remember her."_ Loki wanted Thor to go look for him. Hope blossoming inside him at the thought, Thor reached for the apple and cradled it to his chest dearly. He swore to never take it for granted ever again.

"Thor," Frigga opened the door to his room and poked her head inside, smiling. "We're going over to Loki's house for dinner in ten minutes." Thor shot up from his bed. Ten minutes?!

Thor showered as quickly as he could and changed into decent clothes, then they headed for Loki's house. Once they were inside Frigga excused herself to go help out in the kitchen, pulling Odin along with her. She winked at Thor before disappearing into the kitchen, leaving Thor and Loki alone in the living room standing across each other from a distance. Thor's heart was pounding hard in his chest. He opened his mouth to speak first, but Loki beat him to it.

"You said I was ugly," Loki said, crossing his arms. He looked at Thor challengingly, lips pulled into a thin line. Thor swallowed.

"I did. I was wrong," Thor said, willing his voice not to tremble. Loki was beautiful. Always had been. Loki only gave a noncommittal hum in response.

"You said my heart was ugly too," Loki continued to recall, and Thor felt a sharp pang of regret in his chest in that instant.

"I did," he looked Loki in the eye, remorseful. "I was a fool," he berated himself. He thought he saw a smile pass fleetingly across Loki's face, though barely noticeable because Loki returned to an unimpressed expression right away. He finally allowed himself to relax. _Little devil_ , he thought fondly, feeling lighthearted and relieved.

"You threw away the apples I gave you," Loki continued to say.

"I did," Thor admitted as he took a bold step forward, gaze never leaving Loki's eyes. "And I swear to never do it again."

"I hate you," Loki said, but didn't back away.

"I know," Thor said, taking another step towards Loki.

"I'm a liar,"

"I know." Another step.

"And a trickster."

"I know." Thor stopped when he was one step away from Loki.

"You said…" Loki flicked his gaze sideways and licked his lips, suddenly looking unsure. "You said you didn't like me."

"I don't."

"What?" Loki's head snapped up, eyes flashing.

"I don't just like you, Loki," Thor explained, gently cupping Loki's face with a hand, "Loki," he breathed, " _I love you_."

"That's..." Loki flushed adorably, "That's cheating," he accused. Thor smiled.

"Someone once told me that sometimes you have to cheat to get what you want."

"Fuck you."

"I'd like that. But it'll need to wait till we're both of age."

"Oh my _god,_ you perverted oaf—"

Thor kissed him before he could say anything else.

* * *

 _TBC_


	3. in love

" _I would love you in any shape, in any world, with any past. Never doubt that."  
― Claudia Gray, A Thousand Pieces of You_

 _"Sometimes I'm envious, but never doubt that I love you."  
―Loki to Thor, Thor movie deleted scene_

* * *

 **Loki**

Out of reflex Loki squeezed his eyes shut when Thor suddenly leaned towards him. An instant later he felt something warm and soft on his lips. It took him a second to register that Thor was in fact kissing him. Loki's heart fluttered. Thor's lips moved against his slowly and he kissed back experimentally, leaning into Thor's hand as he instinctively tilted his head for a better angle. He brought his arms around Thor to steady himself and Thor pressed closer, one hand sliding from Loki's hair to the small of his back, the other caressing his cheek. He traced Loki's bottom lip with his tongue and took the chance to deepen the kiss when Loki's lips parted for air. Loki let out a soft moan and his hand slid from Thor's back to his side. His fingers curled around Thor's waist lightly, testing, then twisted and pinched the flesh there— _hard_.

Thor let out a yelp as he sprang back and they broke the kiss, both breathless and face flushed. "What was that for?" Thor complained, rubbing at his side and looking at Loki pitifully. Loki huffed and glared at him. He couldn't believe that he let Thor get the better of him so easily. "Who said you could kiss me?" he uttered, willing himself to cool down. Thor had the nerve to look confused.

"But you liked it—"

"Shut up!" Loki hastily ordered before Thor could continue to spout anything more embarrassing. His cheeks felt hot again. _Stupid oaf!_

Thor wilted—literally—and looked at him with wide puppy eyes. "Loki…" he whined, and Loki narrowed his eyes. He suddenly felt silly for worrying over Thor's health before. The oaf seemed pretty energetic and his complexion looked rather rosy too—though the reason for the latter might be because they just made out—

Loki cleared his throat to forcibly halt his thoughts there before they started to derail. He returned to glaring at Thor. "Were you trying to get me sick too?" he asked accusingly, "You were having a fever this afternoon, weren't you?" He decided to make sure in any case.

"Oh!" Thor brightened for some reason, "You don't have to worry about that! I fully recovered the moment I saw you, so I'm completely well now!"

Loki couldn't help a snort, feeling fondly exasperated. What kind of ridiculous assurance was that?

"So… You have forgiven me, right?" Thor asked hopefully. Loki crossed his arms and turned away, looking unimpressed.

" _Loki_ —"

"Boys, dinner's ready soon!" Frigga announced as she came out of the kitchen carrying two dishes, smiling at them.

"Okay!" Loki answered, smiling back at her, before turning around and giving Thor the side-eye. "I'll think about it," he said, straightening his shirt, and sauntered to the dining area to join Frigga. Thor stood for a moment, probably taking time to digest the words, before perking up and scurrying to follow Loki.

Thor insisted on sitting next to Loki at the dining table, despite the disapproving looks from Odin. Seated on Loki's other side was Laufey and across from them were Odin and Frigga, which kind of made it a strange arrangement for Thor to be seated beside Loki. Loki could feel Thor staring at him the whole time but he opted to ignore him and only chatted with Frigga. When he returned his attention to his plate there was suddenly a small mountain on it—built of pie, potatoes, salad, roast chicken… Loki snatched his plate away before Thor could pile more food on top.

As the meal went on Thor started to nudge and poke at Loki under the table. Loki internally rolled his eyes and tried to ignore it initially, but eventually lost his patience. He discreetly reached under the table and stabbed Thor's thigh with his fork, which earned a hiss from Thor. He decided to steal a glance at Thor to check out his reaction, and couldn't help a small smile of amusement at what he saw. Thor was pouting childishly while rubbing at his thigh, giving Loki the puppy-dog eyes again. He visibly brightened the instant he noticed Loki's smile though, a big smile spreading across his own face. He reached his hand over to take Loki's under the table and squeezed it lightly. "Loki," he leant over to whisper, warm breath tickling Loki's ear, "You _have_ forgiven me, right?" Loki felt his ears burn and he wondered if Thor was doing it on purpose. He sighed weakly. _Fine_ , he gave up keeping up the façade. " _Yes_ ," he hissed his answer irritably, but Thor paid no mind to his tone at all, and went on to peck him on the cheek before nuzzling it happily. At that moment Loki was convinced that Thor's spirit animal must be a dog, and a highly affectionate breed at that—a golden retriever, probably. Loki had always preferred cats, though—Thor's cat Mjolnir was so adorable Loki had been tempted to steal him for himself at one point in time. "I don't even know why I like you so much," he muttered under his breath as an afterthought, not expecting to be tackled by a bear hug.

They were interrupted by a giggle and a cough—by Frigga and Odin, respectively. Frigga was smiling at them fondly, eyes crinkling, a direct contrast to Odin's frown and judging eyes. Loki fidgeted in Thor's arms and nudged at Thor to let go, suddenly feeling self-conscious. Thor released him reluctantly, but his hand went back to holding Loki's under the table and didn't let go for the rest of the meal.

After dinner Thor stayed back slightly later than his parents, but it was soon time for him to go home too. They said goodbye to each other and Thor was one step out of the door when he suddenly turned back round to face Loki. Loki raised his brows questioningly.

"I forgot to ask," Thor began, smoothing down his already neatly combed hair with his fingers. Loki recognised it as one of his nervous habits.

"What is it?" prompted Loki, genuinely curious. Thor took in a deep breath.

"Loki," he said sheepishly, "There's a Valentine's Day party coming up in two weeks. Will you be my date?"

Loki widened his eyes in surprise, but lowered his gaze right after. Thor said he loved Loki and Loki believed him now, but there was still the matter of Thor's friends. The Valentine's Day party was a school event, so they would surely be there too. If Thor was right, they probably didn't like Loki very much. He didn't want to place Thor in any sort of dilemma if he could help it.

"Why don't you go with Jane instead?" he asked in a small voice, feeling a pang in his chest as soon as he said the words. Thor looked surprised at that, then bewildered.

"Why would you say that?" he asked Loki, tone careful.

"Don't pretend you don't know," said Loki bitterly, getting mildly annoyed. Did Thor really want Loki to spell it out for him? Well, then. "Obviously, everyone thinks you two make the perfect couple—"

"No!" Thor exclaimed immediately and scrambled to take Loki's hands in his, "No, Loki," he said in a softer voice, "You're the only one I want to go with, you hear that?"

Loki was slightly relieved, but still felt unsure. "Won't it look bad on you to be seen with me?" he asked. Thor looked shocked at first, but almost at once his expression melted to a crestfallen one.

"Loki, is this because of—" he swallowed before rephrasing his question, "Are you still bothered by what I said before?" Loki's first thought was to deny it, but he realised that Thor was right. He told himself that he didn't care, but in the end he couldn't help getting affected by it. He even changed his hairstyle and took the time and effort to fix his lawn because of what Thor had said. He bit his lip and looked down at his feet, contemplating how he should answer Thor so that it wouldn't upset him. Maybe he could just lie about it; he was good at lying after all—

"Loki," his thoughts were interrupted by Thor's hand lightly cupping his face and tilting it up so they looked each other in the eyes. Thor's eyes were so blue. "Forget everything I told you that day, okay?" he told Loki gently, "I was wrong—I didn't know what I was saying. You're smart, you're beautiful—I can't believe I haven't told you that. You're you—you don't have to change anything for me, please. I know it took me too long to realise this, but Loki I love you—I really do, and I won't care what anyone else says. So please," he pleaded, "Go with me?"

Loki's eyes prickled and he was struck with a burning sense of affection for Thor in that moment. Before he knew what he was doing he had crushed his lips against Thor's and locked his arms around him, pulling him flush against himself. Thor responded immediately, one hand shifting to cup the back of his neck. Their lips moved against each other's hungrily, but it wasn't enough for Loki. He licked and nipped Thor's lips demandingly, prodding them to open. Thor seemed to get the message and let out a groan, parting his lips to welcome Loki. Loki kissed him fierily, sucking and tasting and exploring. Thor gave back with equal fervour, his hand sliding under Loki's shirt and leaving trails of heat where it glided across skin. Loki pressed closer and moaned when Thor's hard-on brushed against his own, sending sparks through his whole body. They were both aroused and Loki was hazily aware that it wasn't a good time and place, but he couldn't bring himself to stop. Thor canted his hips forward and Loki gasped and grinded against him, yearning desperately for more friction. The fabric was in the way and Loki needed to get it off badly. Thor was the same, and he wasn't ashamed to let Loki know. "Loki," he panted, face flushed and voice hoarse, "Can I—can I stay over tonight?"

Loki took in the view before him dreamily—Thor's hair was dishevelled and loose strands fell over his face like a curtain of golden silk threads; beneath them his eyes were an intense blue sea half hidden by heavy lids and lashes, and further down were his lips, wet and kiss-swollen, like a dewy red rose bud—his heart skipped a beat and his lower body throbbed painfully. He breathed heavily, "I—"

He didn't get to finish his reply before they were started apart by a sudden loud cough. He looked up at the figure behind Thor and it was Odin standing outside the door, his expression unreadable. "I, umm…" Odin began to say, but he wasn't looking in their direction. Loki looked to Thor and Thor discreetly pointed to something—or someone—behind him. He grimaced and resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands. He didn't have to look to know that his father was standing right behind him.

"I just came to see what took Thor so long," Odin finished saying, and Loki felt like he could die from the embarrassment right then and there.

"Ah," Laufey responded awkwardly, "I was just going to inform Loki that he can use the shower now," he said, and added, "Alone." Loki swore he had never cringed so hard before.

"Right, then I'll be taking my son home," Odin said, then turned his gaze to Thor, "Thor, let's go."

As Thor was pulled along by his father he opened his mouth to say something to Loki, but the door clicked shut before Loki could hear it. There was a brief awkward silence before Loki announced "I'm going to shower" and briskly escaped to his room.

"Loki we're gonna have a talk about this!" Laufey hollered, but Loki pretended not to hear him. As he threw himself onto his bed and buried his face in his pillow, he vaguely wondered how Thor was doing.

 **Thor**

Thor was feeling troubled. It wasn't because of Odin's cynical reaction to the revelation of his relationship with Loki, though. He was grateful enough that Odin chose not to be awkward about it, really. That night after he went home, Odin sat him down in the living room and asked him if it was serious between him and Loki or if he was just playing around. Thor decided to be open and honest about it; he told Odin that he truly loved Loki and he wanted to be with him for the rest of his life. But Odin had scoffed in response, said that his judgment was merely clouded by teenage hormones and that he would get over that phase soon enough. He also said that their relationship wouldn't last and told him not to go too far, then he returned to his room without bothering to listen to Thor's retort. Thor was disappointed, but not surprised, to be honest. It wasn't like he didn't always know that his father was kind of a jerk. Naturally, he didn't take what Odin said to heart; in fact he only became determined to prove him wrong.

So, back to his latest trouble. It shouldn't even be a bother, though. He had finally made up with Loki; in fact they became closer than they ever were before—honestly he should be more than satisfied. He and Loki walked to school and back home together, they spent their break times together, they spent their after-school hours and weekend together, they went to each other's house to study and play like they used to—everything was back to normal and it was just like before, if he excluded the cuddles and kisses. They didn't go any further than that though, because Loki said they should go slow, and of course Thor respected his wishes. They also avoided being physically intimate in school, because Loki wanted their relationship to be low-profile for the time being. That was the thing—not the refusal to public displays of affection, no—it was how Loki's entire demeanour had become all quiet and modest that was bugging him. Not that it was a bad thing—it just felt rather strange and out of character for Loki. It was also not that Thor thought modesty non-existent in Loki's nature, it was just that having known Loki for such a long time, he could just tell when Loki was putting up a front and he wondered if Loki was doing it consciously.

He observed that Loki had become more reserved about being himself in the presence of others, and he couldn't help feeling responsible for that. Loki should feel at ease with being himself and Thor wanted to tell him that, but he didn't know how or if he should even say anything. The last time he assumed and said something he had made Loki sad, and he didn't want to make that mistake ever again. But at the same time he couldn't help missing the Loki who was self-assured, playful, talkative, snarky and generally a smart mouth all the time—funny how things had flipped around; those were the exact same qualities he had found fault with not too long ago. Maybe that was the reason Loki had become so withdrawn. He wondered now if Loki wasn't truly happy to be with him.

"What's the matter? Can't bear to be apart from him for one afternoon?" A voice broke Thor from his thoughts. He looked up from his corner and it was Steve, his tone teasing. He was smiling playfully with one eyebrow raised. Thor smiled back at him.

"You should feel lucky," Steve said as he joined Thor on the club room floor, "You get to see Loki almost everyday. You know, I have a childhood best friend too, but we don't get to see each other very much, since he went to attend school in the next town over. Sometimes I just miss him so much," Steve looked forlorn and Thor started to ponder what he should say to comfort him, but it seemed like he didn't need to worry, because Steve had cheered up by himself the next moment. "We'd meet up during the holidays though, and we've also promised to go to the same high school together," Steve said, eyes practically shining with excitement, "and when that time comes I'll get to see him everyday!"

Thor smiled at that. Steve was always so earnest and full of positive energy, so Thor liked talking to him. "That's really great!" he commented, truly happy for Steve, and Steve beamed.

"Enough about me though," Steve suddenly leaned forward and looked at him curiously, "I was only kidding just now, but you're not actually brooding because you miss Loki already, are you? I mean, that's a bit too much, isn't it? Thor, it's only been a few hours…"

"Oh, no!" Thor laughed and waved a hand dismissively, "It's not because of that."

"Then it's because of something else," Steve said, voice gentle, "Do you want to tell me about it?"

Thor lowered his gaze to his hands. How should he even explain it?

"Oh my Sweet Rogers, always so naïve," Tony suddenly cut in, announcing his presence as dramatically as always.

Steve narrowed his eyes. "Tony, it's not nice to eavesdrop," he chastised.

Tony looked mildly offended. "I wasn't _eavesdropping._ You were openly discussing and I was listening right beside you all this time," he gestured to somewhere around one meter away from them, "Don't tell me you didn't notice?"

"Really?" Steve questioned, raising a brow. "Then your sense of presence must be far more lacking than you think—oh hey, maybe that's a big surprise for you?" He smiled innocently at Tony, who looked appalled.

"Now that was just _rude—_ Seriously, Rogers? I didn't even think you were capable of sarcasm, but now it seems I might have to seriously re-evaluate this whole golden boy image of yours," said Tony, adjusting his tinted sunglasses and squinting at Steve to illustrate his point. Thor couldn't help a muffled laughter and Tony turned to glower at him instead. "You," he said pointing at Thor, "Don't think I forgot this was about you!"

"What?" asked Thor, blinking in confusion.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Honestly, you two are cut from the same cloth," he said, looking at Thor and Steve distastefully. "Anyway, my point was, Golden Boy here might buy what you say, but I know you're totally pining for Bambi right now—Uh-uh," he wagged his finger when Thor tried to deny it, "Don't tell me that's not it, because I've seen you make goo-goo eyes at him this whole week you were together, so," he smirked when Thor frowned and Steve's eyes widened in surprise, "Let me guess, you're feeling lonely and jealous because he's gone off with his little buddy without you—what's the name again? Thumper?"

"Thanos," Thor corrected with disgust—that bald titan was nowhere as furry and adorable as Thumper the rabbit, for heaven's _sake_. If Tony was going to refer to Loki as Bambi (his reason was that Loki had 'pretty doe eyes'), and said deer's best friend's name must begin with 'Th', then ' _Thor'_ already fitted the bill perfectly—right up to the cuteness factor, _please_.

"Aha! You _are_ jealous!" Tony exclaimed, looking pleased with himself. Thor only shook his head, not bothering to refute. Tony could think whatever he wanted, but Thor was positively _not_ jealous, because he was the one that Loki liked the most, he thought sweetly, lips curling into a smile.

"Did someone say Thanos?" Natasha interrupted the moment with a frown, sauntering towards them.

"Yes, he's the guy Loki has been doing some part-time jobs with for a while now," Thor explained, "Is anything wrong?"

Natasha's frown deepened. "You should tell Loki to stop hanging around with that guy. I've heard some rumours about him from my informants and none of them were anything good," she warned.

Thor's smile froze on his face. "What do you mean?" he asked, standing up frantically.

"Wait, what informants? Why would you have _informants_? Are we just gonna ignore that part?" asked Tony, incredulous.

Natasha side-eyed him. "I could tell you, but I can't promise that you'd live to see tomorrow," she said darkly, and Tony gawked. Her expression went back to neutral when she returned her attention to Thor. "I can only say that he's part of a shady group that does anything for money," she said, voice lowered, "They appear to be harmless on the surface, but word has it that they can become unreasonable and aggressive when things don't go their way—whether it's towards their customers or their own members. Oh, and I've also heard that Thanos has this weird hobby of collecting stones—nobody knows why, though. Pretty suspicious, if you ask me."

Thor took a deep breath and considered Natasha's words seriously. Loki was smart; he never promised Thanos long-term commitment and also made sure not to owe Thanos anything. From what Loki had told him, so far all he did with Thanos were common odd jobs. They were done with Loki's lawn (Loki insisted that he didn't need Thor's help) and today was the last time Loki would work with him. Thor decided that Loki should be safe. He would tell Loki what he had heard from Natasha as soon as he saw him later and Loki wouldn't have to involve himself with Thanos ever again after today. He nodded to himself reassuredly. "Thanks, Natasha. I know what to do," he said, and Steve squeezed his shoulder.

As Thor walked on the way home he considered how he should tell Loki. He wondered if it would sound like he was badmouthing Loki's friend out of pettiness. He was still thinking about it when he rounded the corner to the street where his and Loki's house were, and it surprised him to see Mjolnir right outside the gate to Loki's house, meowing loudly in its direction. "Mjolnir what's wrong?" Thor asked curiously as he jogged towards his cat. But before he could reach Mjolnir he saw three guys emerge from the gate of Loki's house and dash off in the direction opposite from where he was coming from. He recognised two of them as Thanos' followers. "Hey!" Thor yelled as he sped up, but they vanished from his sight before he could catch up. He huffed, stopping just as he reached Loki's gate. He picked Mjolnir up into his arms and petted his fur soothingly before lifting his gaze towards Loki's front yard—and his eyes widened in horror. He felt his heart drop to his stomach. Loki's beloved apple tree was gone. All that were left in its place were a neatly chopped tree stump and by its side a few residual branches and apples. Forcing himself to move, Thor staggered forward, and couldn't stop himself from falling to his knees in front of where the tree once stood. Mjolnir mewled softly and nuzzled against his chest as if trying to comfort him, but Thor only felt numb. It was all his fault. This wouldn't have happened if he didn't say anything about Loki's lawn in the first place.

Thor didn't know how long he sat there, only that the sky was already getting dark when he looked up from his folded knees. He felt a weight on his back and thought it was Mjolnir at first, but Mjolnir was still in front of him taking a nap. He turned around—it was Loki, his hand resting on Thor's back. Thor tried to read his expression, but his face was obscured by the evening shadows.

"Are you alright?" Loki asked _,_ of all things, voice soft and concerned. Thor swallowed, feeling overcome with emotion.

"I'm so sorry," he rasped, "I didn't get here in time to stop them. It was Thanos, he—"

"I know," Loki said calmly. Thor's eyes widened in surprise. "He told me several times that it was interfering with the overall aesthetic of the lawn. He wanted it removed, but I didn't agree. I guess he took matters into his own hands, from the looks of it," explained Loki, "Anyway, it's just a tree. Don't worry about it. I'm more worried about you—how long have you been sitting here for?" Loki tried to pull Thor up from his sitting position, but Thor refused to budge. He didn't get it. How could Loki be fine with this?

"But it's _your_ precious tree!" Thor reasoned desperately, "Aren't you upset at all? You don't have to put up an illusion when you're with me, Loki please."

"Thor, I'm fine," Loki assured him gently, "It doesn't matter anymore." Thor would have believed it, if he didn't notice Loki's eyes flash with suppressed rage and unshed tears. Without a second thought he pulled Loki into an embrace and hugged him tightly. Loki tensed at first, but almost at once he relaxed in Thor's arms and let himself lean on Thor entirely. In that moment Thor made up his mind—he would not sit around and let those bullies off without making them pay for what they did.

"Loki, does your tree have a name?" asked Thor abruptly when he loosened his hold.

"What?" Loki stared at him as if he were crazy, but Thor looked back expectantly. Loki sighed, frowning, "It wasn't official, but I once thought of naming it 'Yggdrasil'. Why?"

"Well, we won't let Yggdrasil fall in vain," Thor declared, "We're getting revenge." As soon as he said it Mjolnir let out a well-timed yowl that sounded like a battle cry. Thor patted him on the head proudly—Mjolnir might be a domestic cat, but Thor always knew he had the heart of a lion.

"And _how_ exactly do you plan to do that?" asked Loki dubiously.

Thor smiled mischievously. "Since Thanos loves stones so much," he said, "we'll give him stones."

Loki raised a brow in interest and Thor pecked him on the cheek. "Let's move these into the house first, then I'll tell you," he said, glancing around at the branches and fruits littered on the ground.

"Honestly, what are you up to?" Loki probed as he followed behind Thor, carrying Mjolnir in his arms. Thor turned around and gave him a conspiratorial wink.

 **Loki**

"What _is_ that thing?" Thor whispered, squinting at the heap of rocks and stones in Thanos' backyard. "Has he been gathering stones just for that?"

"He's building a sculpture out of stones to impress his crush—that gothic girl from the next class, you know," Loki explained, "I don't know why he's making it the shape of a glove, though."

"A _what_? Wait, he actually told _you_ all of that?" asked Thor, looking surprised.

"No," Loki admitted, "I had to dig the information out of one of his trusted lackeys, unfortunately." He grimaced with disdain at the memory of said lackey persistently batting his eyelashes at him.

"Do you think she's pretty?" asked Thor out of the blue.

"Who?" Loki frowned in confusion.

"Thanos' crush," Thor answered casually.

Loki eyed him critically. "Evidently not as ravishing as you, Brother," he joked, which made Thor beam. Loki rolled his eyes in fond exasperation.

"You know, I like it when you call me that," said Thor suddenly, and Loki had to think for a moment what he was referring to.

"Honestly?" asked Loki when he caught on, disbelieving.

"Hey, it was true what Mother said, you know. I've always wanted a baby brother," Thor pointed out. "So can we adopt you back into the family already?" he asked in jest, grinning.

"Be careful," Loki mock-cautioned, "You don't want to let my father hear that. He literally warned me not to get cheated by that ' _lecherous rascal Thor'_ , in case I haven't told you yet." Loki recalled the long-winded lecture that Laufey put him through and internally shuddered. "Anyway," he shrugged nonchalantly, "We can go back to being brothers instead, if you wish to change your mind."

"I know you don't mean that," said Thor confidently, and Loki couldn't help an amused snort. He guessed this big-headed aspect of Thor's character might dampen with time, but would probably never go away. "Besides," continued Thor, paying no mind to Loki's little reaction, "Can't we just be both at the same time? In fact, I—" he abruptly paused, lowering his gaze as if in thought. Then his eyes flicked up and their gazes locked. Loki's breath caught in his throat. "I'd love you in any shape, any world, with any identity," said Thor slowly, his voice soft and magnetic, "Never doubt that."

Loki suddenly felt dizzy, overwhelmed with the affection he felt for the boy before him in that moment. It took all his willpower to restrain himself from giving in to his impulse. He clenched and unclenched his fist. "If I kissed you right now, we'd both fall off from this tree," he said reasonably, both to Thor and to himself. "Stop being sentimental for no reason," he chided without malice, shying away from Thor's penetrating gaze.

"Sorry," Thor apologised sheepishly, "I just had this really strong feeling all of a sudden, I don't know why. But still, that sort of scenario would be pretty classic, wouldn't it?" Thor grinned playfully. "You know that rhyme—"

" _Don't sing it_ ," Loki ordered sharply, somehow knowing what Thor was thinking of, but Thor happily ignored him.

" _Thor and Loki sitting on a tree_ —" Thor began, but was instantly cut off by Loki glaring and pointing a sharp tree branch at him threateningly.

"I'll stop, I'll stop! No domestic violence!" Thor conceded, laughing as he put his hands up in surrender. Loki huffed and lowered his makeshift weapon, rolling his eyes.

"You're being rather chatty today," Thor remarked after a moment, "How come you were so quiet in school this past week, though?" Thor's tone was deliberately casual, but Loki could see the blatant concern in his eyes. He was surprised and slightly touched that Thor would be so attentive to him, given how obtuse he generally was.

"For _your_ information, I was being well-behaved out of consideration for your reputation, since we're officially together now," Loki answered light-heartedly, feeling endeared when Thor visibly relaxed at once. "You know, what you said about me weren't completely wrong," he decided to clarify, "Particularly the part about the words that come out of my mouth. I have to admit that I can't help it, especially when I'm faced with halfwits and annoying pests. It's kind of ironic, now that I think about it. They like to say I'm pretentious, but I'm actually pretty honest and sincere when it comes to sharing with people my opinions of them," he flashed an innocuous smile at Thor, "which also means that if I don't hold back, I might go around offending everyone in school."

"I knew it, you have a _horrible_ personality. You're a devil," Thor gasped in mock horror.

"And?" Loki prompted, smiling sweetly at him.

"I love you all the same," said Thor, grinning. "Like hearing that, don't you?" he teased, lightly poking Loki's nose with a finger.

"Well, you like saying it, so…" Loki scrunched his nose and gave him a cheeky grin. "Love you too, by the way," he stated offhandedly, and was startled to see Thor's eyes widen so expressively.

"What did you just say?" Thor whispered.

"Nothing," Loki denied and looked away, flustered and taken aback by the affection and wonder so honest and plainly written on the other's face. "A-Anyway," he figured he could maybe change the subject, "This…" he gestured around at their current hiding place, "is quite unlike you, isn't it? I was actually prepared to stop you from getting into a fight, but all this has been so," he paused, looking for a fitting word, "Clandestine."

"You can just say 'sneaky' _,_ I don't mind," Thor said, raising a brow in amusement. "But I prefer to call it 'an eye for an eye'. He was the one who did you dirty first, so there is no honour to speak of."

Loki was both relieved and disappointed that Thor had let their previous conversation pass just like that. He felt like he should say something—he didn't want Thor to have any misgivings about their relationship because of the way he had reacted earlier. He took a deep breath, "Hey—"

"Shh, the target has appeared," Thor shushed Loki before he could say anything. They were currently atop a tree outside the fence of Thanos' backyard, hiding amidst the leaves and branches, having scanned the area beforehand to make sure that Thor's plan would work. Thanos' house was situated on a low hillside and surrounded by a forest of trees, so they didn't have much difficulty staying inconspicuous.

"Time to have some fun," said Thor, passing Loki one of the catapults he had fished out of his bag along with a pouch of pebbles. Loki looked at the weapon in his hand dubiously. Thor made the catapults with the thicker branches, but he still worried if they were sturdy enough. He turned to look at Thor who was focused on his task, and followed his gaze to what was happening down in the backyard.

Thanos had just come out of his house and was currently circling his half-finished sculpture while stroking his chin, seemingly appraising it. Loki frowned in distaste—he couldn't see what there was to appraise; there was no aesthetic value to that thing at all, for goodness' sake. Thanos had just turned his back to them when Loki saw a projectile hit the back of his neck. Thanos turned around to face them with a stupid look on his face, rubbing his neck in confusion. Loki pursed his lips to suppress a giggle and turned to look at Thor, who was smirking and getting ready for another shot. This time it hit Thanos in the ass and he jumped comically. Loki bit his lip to keep himself from laughing out loud. He watched Thanos clumsily knock over one part of his sculpture and uselessly scramble to save it, destroying more of it in the process. Loki had to cover his mouth with a hand to stifle his laughter. Thor raised a fist in celebration, then opened it up for a silent high-five which Loki delightedly returned. Loki took in a deep breath to calm himself—it would be pretty stupid to fall off a tree from too much laughing, after all.

"Since when have you become so good at this?" he whispered, curious and impressed. They used to play with catapults when they were younger, but Thor's accuracy wasn't this good then.

"Learned a trick or two from Clint—he's also in the archery club, if you didn't know," Thor whispered back, grinning smugly.

"You haven't seen me yet," Loki jutted his chin challengingly, suddenly feeling competitive. "Now tell me where to shoot," he ordered, and Thor's grin widened. "Let's make it a game then," proposed Thor, licking his lips.

They decided on just having three turns each, so that Thanos wouldn't get too suspicious. The rules were simple—one of them would specify a spot and the other would try to hit it when Thanos wasn't looking. Loki hit his first two spots perfectly, one on Thanos' shoulder and the other on an acorn that landed right on top of Thanos' bald head. It was going pretty smoothly until Thanos became exasperated after Thor's third shot, which hit his ass again because Loki found it to be the most entertaining. Thanos jerked around and stomped towards them, glaring up in their direction. Thor and Loki both held their breaths. Then out of nowhere a bunch of monkeys swung past on the branches in front of them, screeching noisily.

"Stupid monkeys," Thanos spat, and went back to fixing his sculpture.

Thor and Loki turned to each other and blinked, dumbfounded by what had just occurred. Then their lips twitched up at the corners and they had to bite their lips to stop from bursting into laughter.

"I still have one more turn," reminded Loki. Thor started looking around for an idea, then his eyes lit up. "There," he whispered, pointing towards a beehive hanging over Thanos' fence. Loki widened his eyes and faintly whistled, surprised and impressed by Thor's boldness. "If you hit that, we'll count it as your win," Thor said, raising his brows challengingly. Loki smirked. "Get ready your things," he told Thor, picking up the biggest pebble and casually tossing it in his hand, "As soon as I release this," he said, pulling the sling back with the projectile in place, "We get up and run." He aimed and fired.

The beehive fell to the ground with a thud, but they didn't stay around to watch what happened next. As soon as Loki made the shot they hurriedly slid off the tree, Loki right behind Thor. The instant Loki's feet touched the ground, Thor grabbed Loki's hand and ran. Loki let himself be pulled along by Thor, relishing in the thrill and the cool breeze blowing on his face. They dashed past rows of trees, sweeping up fallen leaves at their feet and startling a few birds and squirrels on the way. Loki suddenly had the urge to laugh, so he did. Thor immediately joined in, and so together they laughed and ran, hand-in-hand, without a care in the world.

They kept running until they were at the foot of the hill, out of the forest and a long way from where they came from. Thor stumbled and fell over out of exhaustion, pulling Loki along with him. Loki willingly went with him, instinctively placing a hand behind Thor's head to shield it from the fall. He collapsed on top of Thor and they rolled over clumsily, panting and laughing breathlessly. Loki buried his face in Thor's shoulder to muffle his laughter, taking in a deep breath to calm himself down, breathing in Thor's scent without meaning to. Dazedly he shifted and nuzzled against Thor's neck to get more of it, and felt Thor suck in a deep breath suddenly. He flicked his gaze up curiously. Thor's eyes were heavy-lidded, his face flushed and his breathing heavy—whether it was from the adrenaline or something else, Loki wouldn't know. Thor met his gaze and slowly shifted above him until their eyes were level with each other. His breath was warm and tingling on Loki's lips. Loki swallowed and leaned in, closing his eyes.

"Loki," Thor whispered against his lips, voice low and husky, "Did you really mean what you said before?"

Loki caught himself and stopped in confusion. "I don't know what you're talking about," he mumbled, feeling embarrassed all of a sudden. He averted his gaze and tried to turn away, but Thor's hand held him firmly in place.

"You don't know how much it meant to me," Thor said, his eyes bright and imploring, "I didn't get to hear it properly the first time, so please," he pleaded, "Say it again? _For me_?"

Loki's heart beat furiously. He bit his lip as he drank in how beautiful Thor was, looking so vulnerable and needy—for _him_. A familiar warmth filled his chest. "Honestly, you are _so_ ," he purred, lifting a hand to caress Thor's cheek adoringly, "Sentimental."

Thor leaned into his touch and gazed at him wordlessly, waiting. Loki's eyes felt hot all of a sudden. " _I love you_ , you oaf," he whispered, willing his voice not to tremble, "Now will you please shut up and kiss me?"

Thor did as he was told, smiling.

* * *

 _End_

 **A/N** : Thank you to everyone who read :) It's kinda hard to find works that are pure fluff for this pairing, so I decided to write one myself—and that was basically the whole motivation behind this fic X'D I hope it was enjoyable! The story is finished, but I may or may not add a bonus chapter. Lots of love~


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